After only two games in a Gator uniform, freshman Jud Fabian has quickly stood out.

Fabian was an integral part of Florida’s victory over Long Beach State Saturday as the Gators took the series from the Dirtbags with a 5-2 win.

The true freshman from Ocala went 1-3 with an RBI double that was part of a four-run second inning for Florida.

However, the highlight of the night from Fabian happened while he was in center field. With Tanner Carlson on second for the Dirtbags, Chris Jimenez hit a groundball into center. Carlson was waved around third, trying to cut into the Gator lead.

Fabian had other ideas. He cleanly fielded the groundball and fired a throw to home plate that one-hopped into catcher Brady Smith’s mitt. Smith tagged out a sliding Carlson to keep LBSU off the scoreboard and record the second out of the inning.

“Normally I wouldn’t throw balls hit to my right or left when someone’s going home and it was the only play I had so I’m glad he hit it there,” Fabian said.

“It’s been a big learning curve,” he said about going form high school baseball to the college level, “but at the same time it’s a game we’ve played since we were young. Getting used to the pitching has been hard.”

On the mound for the Gators, sophomore Tommy Mace had a career outing. Mace went seven strong innings, allowing only two earned runs. The second-year pitcher had a career-high in strikeouts, fanning 7 Long Beach State hitters while only allowing five hits. He also hit two batters and walked three in just 98 pitches.

“Usually I’m throwing my cutter more and today I threw my slider a lot more than most outing I had in the spring,” Mace said. “I threw all four pitches for strike and that’s what I was pleased about.”

The offense built the majority of its lead with the four-run outburst in the second.

With two outs, Cory Acton on third and Brady Smith on second, Blake Reese hit a high, shallow fly-ball to right field. The ball fell between the right fielder, first baseman and second baseman, allowing Acton and Smith to score easily and make it 2-0 Florida. Reese was able to get to second and record a double.

Fabian then smoked a line-drive into left-field that reached the outfield wall. That easily allowing Reese to score from second and Fabian to record a stand-up double that made it 3-0.

“You’re kind of seeing what we knew all along about how good he is defensively,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “He’s a really good hitter and I don’t know if he’ll hit in the nine hole the entire year but for right now just want to get him comfortable.”

Austin Langworthy would drive in Fabian on the next at bat on a single to center field, stretching the advantage to four.

The Gators would tack on another run in the bottom of the third. After Nelson Maldonado walked and then moved to third on a wild pick-off attempt, Wil Dalton came to the plate.

Dalton sent a deep fly-ball to right field that was caught but was deep enough for Maldonado to tag from third and come across the plate. That made it 5-0 Florida.

The Dirtbags were able to trim the Florida lead in the top of the fourth.

The inning started with Luke Rasmussen getting hit by a pitch. Dominic Campeau then singled to right field, putting runners on the corners.

That was followed up by an Aidan Malm sacrifice-fly to center field that scored Rasmussen from third and make it 5-1.

After Campeau moved to second on a Tyler Porter ground out, Santino Rivera singled to right field with two outs to score Campeau. Those two runs would be all Long Beach State would manage.

Mace surrendered only one hit over the fifth, sixth and seventh. He was relieved by Christian Scott in the eighth inning who pitched a one-two-three inning. Nolan Crisp, another freshman, would do the same in the ninth to finish the game on the mound for Florida.

The Gators showed tremendous patience at the plate, drawing seven walks in the game.

Langworthy and Calilao lead the Gators at the plate, each going 1-2 with two walks. Langworthy also drove in a run.

Long Beach State starting pitcher Zak Baayoun went five and a third innings, allowing all five runs. He walked six batters and struck out three.

The Gators will go for the sweep on Sunday with Jack Leftwich on the mound. He’ll take on Alfredo Ruiz from LBSU.

“We gotta be a little greedy,” O’Sullivan said, “we scored four runs early and went five innings where we didn’t score again. We’ve got to do a better job of distancing ourselves a little bit.”

First pitch is at noon.

Stay tuned to GatorsTerritory.